


Lost and Found

by little_wayward_bird



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Batman and Robin (Comics), Batman: Under the Red Hood (2010), Nightwing (Comics), Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: Batfamily, Batfamily Feels, Brotherly Bonding, Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Canon Divergence, Family Feels, Human Trafficking, Hurt Dick Grayson, Hurt Jason Todd, Hurt/Comfort, Injury Recovery, Kidnapping, Language, Multiple POV's, Protective Siblings, Serious Injuries, a bit of Tim, batsiblings, mainly Jason, sibling shenanigans, some violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-02
Updated: 2020-11-08
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:15:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27353326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/little_wayward_bird/pseuds/little_wayward_bird
Summary: The family is finally all together. Jason is finally back into the fold and his siblings will not let him out, he's fine with that. He's been home for almost a year and finally let Bruce bring him back from the dead, publicly a couple months ago. But Bruce's children were still Wayne's, high-profile people in Gotham, really in the spotlight right now because the second eldest was just pronounced back from the dead. So, what happens when the two eldest of Wayne's children go missing?~or~Dick and Jason are abducted and the Bats do everything they can to bring them home alive
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Jason Todd, Selina Kyle/Bruce Wayne (implied), Stephanie Brown & Cassandra Cain & Barbara Gordon, Tim Drake & Dick Grayson & Duke Thomas & Jason Todd & Damian Wayne & Other(s), Tim Drake & Jason Todd
Comments: 26
Kudos: 301





	1. Well, that just happened

Tim sat down at his desk with a cup of coffee and pulled up video chat on his laptop for his bi-monthly meeting with Jason. At first they started doing this because Tim pretty much forced it on his older brother to try and bring him into the family dynamic more. That was about eleven months ago. Now, they just do it to catch up. Jason is legally alive again; that happened about two months or so ago as a kind of birthday present from Bruce, if Jason accepted it, which he did. Seemed pretty happy about it too, especially at the prospect of dropping Todd from his name. Didn’t stop Damian from calling him Todd still, but he legally was no longer a Todd and that seemed enough for Jason.

Bruce and Jason still had their disagreements, mainly when it came to vigilantism, but as father and son, they’ve actually made it work, for the most part. And as brothers, Dick and Tim were excited when they finally got him back into the family more fully. Damian was indifferent. The rest of the family – Alfred, Stephanie, Cass, Duke and Barbara - liked having Jason around.

Jason got his GED in about two weeks at the end of August and now he’s attending Gotham University. Jason was still the only Robin who actually liked school. Tim was currently at Wayne Enterprises, VP of the research and development department. He didn’t have time or interest in attending school.

So, since they don’t run the same patrol routes and were both pretty busy during the day, they just kept up with the twice a month meetings, sometimes making it three or four a month. They occasionally tried to meet in person but most of the time it was easier just to do it over video chat.

When Jason logged on to the chat, he was eating.

Tim rolled his eyes. “Why are you always eating?”

Jason rose a brow and put his dish down. “Why aren’t you ever eating?”

“I’m busy.”

“So am I. Not a valid excuse on its own, Babybird.”

“Whatever,” Tim retorted. It was an ongoing conversation they had. “You about ready for midterms?”

Jason grinned. “Yeah. The gen-eds are stupid easy and I’m doing my English essay on Sherlock Holmes. Dick suggested I should do it on Homer’s work, not that he knows anything about Homer, but I’m taking the ancient cultures class next semester for which we’ll probably talk about Homer in.”

Tim smirked brightly. “Nerd.”

Jason rose a brow and smirked back. “Geek.”

Tim shook his head a little in amusement. Jason talked a bit more about how all his classes were going and how much he loved being able to go to university. He wasn’t staying in a dormitory as he’d been really uncomfortable with the idea, so he was just staying at his apartment about fifteen minutes from the campus. Despite that, it seemed like he was making some acquaintances. It had been hard for Jason at first because all people seemed to be interested in was learning where he’d been and what actually happened. But he met a couple people in English who didn’t care and actually treated Jason like a human being. Or so Jason said.

Tim then started talking about things at work which were stressing him out, mainly the old white men on the board. The statement intentionally and explicitly left out Lucious Fox who was the only grounding and competent presence on the board, and also the only one who respected Tim. While Tim was ranting a bit, Jason finished his dinner, which turned out to be his homemade chicken pot pie.

The conversation eventually rounded to their siblings, mainly about when they’re on patrol. It was always an amusing topic because funny shit happened all the time. Jason talked about how a few nights ago he saw Signal get called a bumblebee by a couple crooks and how Duke then kicked their asses while actually making buzzing noises. Tim brought up a moment he witnessed of Robin last week slipping on Batman’s cape while it was raining and falling on his ass on the roof, and Bruce not even glancing at him, but faintly smirking beneath his cowl. All the Robins have done it at some point. But to see Damian do it, so much funnier.

Jason was cracking up at that one, perfectly imaging it as he leaned his head back against the couch. Tim grinned at seeing his brother so relaxed and happy. It taken so long to get him to this point.

Jason looked back to the computer with a smirk and was about to reply when his brows suddenly furrowed at the screen. He leaned in closer to it and Tim had a really bad feeling he wasn’t focusing on him.

Tim saw it just as Jason figured it out and stood up, whipping around to look out the window behind him. On a building across the street was a gunman who then immediately fired what looked like a bazooka. It broke through the window and hit the wall to his right.

“Jason!” Tim cried out as the laptop flew across the room with loads of other debris as the explosion went off. Jason’s laptop landed across the room and by some luck landed on its base on the floor; he still had video though the connection was faltering and staticky.

Tim stood up from his chair, terrified. He could see Jason flat on his stomach after having been thrown into the granite and metal island of his kitchen. There was smoke in the air and furniture parts and shards of glass all around him. Tim thought he was unconscious till Jason groaned and began to pick himself up. He almost got to his knees before gasping in pain and putting an arm around his ribcage.

“Jason!” Tim called out again, even more terrified now, but by the way Jason shook his head, the explosion had messed up his hearing.

Jason groaned and gripped the countertop with his other hand, pulling himself up so he was semi-standing. With that hand he grabbed the gun concealed under his jacket on the counter. Tim was shocked that he didn’t aim at the door or out the window, but up towards the ceiling. Jason pulled the trigger and a second later a piercing alarm was ringing through the air. _Likely to get the other people out of his building_ , Tim thought, shaking his head, though not surprised that was Jason’s priority.

As soon as Jason had fired, he dropped the gun and fell to his knees, still clutching at his ribs with his other hand on the floor and coughing roughly. Jason suddenly froze for a moment, listening. His hearing must be gradually coming back, Tim assumed as he could faintly hear the sound of approaching feet. A lot of feet.

Jason tensed in pain and anger. “Fuck.”

“Jason,” Tim mumbled to himself, fearful for his brother and angry that he could do nothing but watch.

Jason tried to move again but went into a worse coughing fit, a bit of blood dripping from his mouth now, then fully collapsed on his side on the ground, gasping for breath like he couldn’t get any into his lungs; the smoke and the fire slowly approaching him didn’t help. The sprinkler system went off with the alarm, but it wasn’t enough to kill the growing flames yet. His broken furniture was like kindling.

The sound of a door breaking down smashed through the speakers. Jason coughed a few more times as loud boots stomped into the apartment. He saw Jason properly black out, looking like he just stopped breathing altogether, right as boots approached him. “We’ve got the second Wayne boy, though he might actually be de-” a deep voice reported, then the connection abruptly ended, cutting him off. All he saw was static.

Tim’s eyes widened; _the second Wayne boy_. Tim pulled out his phone as he sprinted toward his closet. He dialed Dick but it went to voicemail.

“Dammit,” Tim muttered as he entered his security room hidden behind the closet wall. Looking at the screens, Tim could see armed men approaching his building. He knew for a fact no one else lived in the building so no one would be at risk, but he needed to get out and figure out what was going on. He definitely couldn’t just sit there.

 _Damian!_ He’d be just leaving school about now. He quickly dialed the kid and he picked up after two rings.

“What do you want, Drake?” Damian greeted sourly.

Tim jumped right to it as he headed to his roof through the makeshift skylight in his closet.

“Someone has abducted Jason. Someone with a lot of men at their disposal. They said _second_ Wayne boy and Dick didn’t answer his phone. I assume they already have him. They’re entering my building now, but I should be able to get out. They’re likely coming to you while you wait for Alfred to pick you up, keep a look out.”

Damian didn’t say anything, but he didn’t really need to at the moment. He was likely looking around.

“I see someone watching me, poorly hiding behind a tall bush. I will call Pennyworth to hurry. Have you told Father?” Damian knew he couldn’t fight them off while a civilian; he was learning.

Tim was on the roof now. He looked down into the alley on the backside of the building where there wasn’t a fire escape or a way into the building just to make sure they weren’t there too. He took a breath then jumped to the adjacent roof and kept running. He should be able to make it to his nearest safehouse.

“No. Been a busy two minutes. I’ll call Bruce while you call Alfred.”

“Got it,” Damian replied then hung up. Tim was about four rooftops away now and his safehouse was on the fifth. He glanced back but it didn’t look like they thought to go up to the roof yet. His roof exit wasn’t actually a skylight if he didn’t want it to be. They shouldn’t find it, especially since he locked it from the outside. He jumped to the last roof and hurried down the fire escape and entered the first window he got to. He jumped in, shut and locked the window then put down the blinds.

He took several deep, calming breaths then walked to the desk in the bedroom, turned on the lamp and called Bruce. He picked up almost immediately.

“Are you alright?” Bruce asked worriedly. “I got an alert that Dick and Jason’s apartments were broken into, and just now yours. Where are you?” Of course, with Bruce approved state of the art security system, he would get alerted.

Tim let out a long exhale. “I’m okay. I was video chatting with Jason when some asshole fired a fucking bazooka at his window. I know he’s not okay. Definitely several broken ribs, and probable punctured lung going by the way he was struggling to breathe and then passed out. I’m pretty he just stopped breathing by the time the men got in. I heard one of the people that stormed in after say, ‘We have the _second_ Wayne boy.’ I called Dick after that, no answer. Then I called Damian while checking my security. He answered and is talking to Alfred now. There is someone watching him, he said. There were about half a dozen people storming my building, but I got out and am in a safehouse about a block away. They didn’t see me.”

Bruce was breathing in a very controlled manner. “Okay. That would explain why Jason’s security just outright stopped working. Dick’s apartment was broken into just before Jason’s.”

“Did they bazooka it, too?” Tim asked curiously. They hadn’t with Tim’s.

“No.”

“Why would they for Jason’s then?” Tim wondered out loud. Bruce ignored him.

“Stay there and then at nightfall, suit up and come straight to the cave. We can’t risk you just walking out in broad daylight as Tim Drake-Wayne.” Bruce paused for a second then spoke, sounding slightly relieved. “Alfred has Damian.”

Tim sighed in relief. “Okay, will do. And good. I’ll monitor my apartment remotely to see if they do anything else. I’ll try and find Dick as well.”

“I’ll do the same from here. Were you recording your chat with Jason?”

“My computer automatically records for instances just like this and sends it to a backup system. Please don’t tell the others, they’ll never want to speak with me again.”

Tim opened the laptop sitting on the desk, quickly found the video and sent it to Bruce.

“Stay in contact, Tim. Anything happens, tell me immediately.”

“Of course.”

Bruce hung up then. Tim sat heavily in his desk chair and watched the video chat with Jason, speeding forward to the moment Jason saw something in his image.

* * *

Dick could honestly say, this was the most painful kidnap he’s experienced as Dick Grayson/Wayne. There of course have been other attempts for ransoms and shit, but he had a feeling this was different.

He had been walking to the grocery store when he was tackled from behind, head colliding with the sidewalk and as he tried to get up, they broke his left leg and his left arm. While he painfully processed the breaks, he’d been picked up and thrown into a car, where he was then drugged.

The other kidnappings, he’d never been physically hurt. There were only three of them, all within the first year of being Bruce’s ward, but guess he can tally it up to four now.

Currently, he was chained to a wooden support post, hands chained together behind the post to be specific. It was hell on his arm, but Dick’s suffered worse. It looked like he was in a basement; it was dark except for a few small dirty windows that weren’t letting in much light. The walls and floors seemed to be stone and brick so it’s probably an older building with improvements, going by the wooden posts.

He’d only been conscious for like five minutes when he heard voices growing louder, then a light turned on somewhere to his right, revealing a staircase. Slow heavy footsteps got louder with each step, and it sounded like they were dragging something down with them.

“Was it really necessary for them to blow up the apartment though? You heard the report, the boy actually stopped breathing for a few minutes. What if Sarge hadn’t been able to revive him? Then we’d all be toast. ‘specially because they didn’t get the other two. The whole family are probably on to us now.”

An annoyed voice replied to the worried deeper one. “Then let’s just be glad this one ain’t dead, again in his case, and get him chained up with the other. We still got other shit to do before the thing.”

Dick put his chin to his chest to fake still being out cold as the men entered the room. But he could guess who they were dragging and were going to chain up beside him just by the _again_ in that statement.

“Can you believe that one is still out? They barely did anything to him. This one’s going be out for ages after that bazooka near shot him to hell. Hehe.”

Dick kept his breathing controlled, trying not to panic yet. He saw shapes moving by his feet but didn’t make out specifics. He heard the men moving a body and then chaining them to the support post in front of Dick. After a minute, the men’s footsteps receded up the stairs and was followed by a door slamming and locking. The light stayed on though.

Dick shot his head up and his eyes widened.

“Jason,” he breathed out, taking in his little brother’s appearance. His body was completely lax, blood dripping from his mouth and nose down onto his white t-shirt. Both the shirt and his sweatpants looked singed, so Dick figured he has some burns too. The men said they blew up his apartment, that meant Jason flying across a room and fire catching on everything. The white streak in Jason’s hair was tainted red, meaning he could have a head injury.

Dick listened and watched Jason’s chest for a minute. He was struggling to breathe. Broken ribs definitely. Those guys said he’d stopped breathing and had to revive him. One stupid kidnapping and explosion nearly killed Jason, again.

Dick took a deep breath to calm himself down. _The other two_ … that likely meant Tim and Damian, if they were going for Wayne’s. Duke’s adoption hasn’t gone all the way through yet. They couldn’t even get Cass if they tried. And Stephanie and Barbara weren’t Wayne’s, so, it had to be Tim and Damian. But they failed to get them, so they’re safe.

So, Dick focused on the one brother that needed him right now. Jason was perpendicular to Dick’s position and close enough, Dick could touch his leg with his foot if he stretched.

As he did, his broken parts screamed against it, but Dick ignored it. With his right foot he started nudging Jason’s leg, each nudge with more intensity.

“Come on, Jason. I know you’re not gonna stay out cold from a little explosion. Come on.”

After a minute, Dick nudged hard enough that it must have shook Jason’s torso, pulling at his broken ribs, because Jason woke up in a coughing fit, blood still coming out of his mouth. When it stopped, Jason leaned his head back with his eyes squeezed close.

“Fucking hell,” he mumbled painfully. Dick waited for a moment to let him catch his breath.

“Hey Little Wing,” Dick said gently, hoping not to startle him into another coughing fit.

Jason slowly rolled his head to the right, still leaning it against the post, then opened his eyes.

“Hey Dickie. They got you too, huh? This is great,” Jason said sarcastically. His voice was really hoarse.

“Yeah, but I heard them say they failed to get the ‘other two’ who I’m guessing are Tim and Damian.”

Jason nodded gently, closing his eyes again. “Was talking with Babybird when the motherfucker shot a fucking bazooka through my window. He probably got the memo and ran for it, letting Bruce and Damian know on his way out.

Dick nodded though Jason couldn’t see it.

“Are your ribs the only thing broken?” Dick asked carefully.

Jason huffed a bit but seemed to regret it as he coughed a bit, straightening his head back up. His eyes stayed closed though. “Honestly, I don’t know. My brain is struggling to get past the whole I can’t breathe because of whatever my ribs are doing to my lungs, thing. All the smoke I sucked up from my apartment being on fire ain’t helping either.”

Dick smiled though there wasn’t much smile in it. “Well, at least we know neither of your lungs are punctured. Otherwise-”

“Otherwise, I wouldn’t be alive right now. Yeah. Though, I’m thinking they were at first or at least my ribs were putting enormous pressure on my lungs; I remember blacking out cause I really couldn’t breathe anymore. Maybe these assholes fixed that little thing to make sure I didn’t die on them.”

“That’s what the men who brought you in said, actually,” Dick said carefully. “You had stopped breathing for a few minutes; one of them revived you.”

“How kind of them,” Jason muttered. Then he took a breath. “How’d they snag you, Big bird? They fire a bomb at your place too?”

Dick huffed in amusement. “I hope not. I wasn’t home. Someone tackled me on the street, broke my leg and my arm then chucked me into a car where they chloroformed me.”

Jason nodded once. “Well, glad I’m not the only one coming out of, whatever this is, fucked. You have a concussion, can't leave that out.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I know you, Dick. You ignore your minor injuries until the situation is assessed and you’ve analyzed how bad your siblings, or in this case singular, are. Then you realize the little things. Also, there’s a massive fucking bruise growing on your forehead along with a bloody cut, you’re squinting at me, and you’re swaying a bit when you talk. Aka, concussion. Even if you haven't realized it yet. Believe me, I've had enough of them over the years.”

Dick was sometimes amazed at how observant Jason was. He notices everything, though most of the time he doesn’t say anything. He had looked at Dick for a max of ten seconds before closing his eyes again.

“Do you have one, Jay? You were thrown across your apartment I imagine. You probably hit your head.”

“Probably. It does feel a bit like a lead weight right now. I'm numb all over honestly. I'm not acknowledging anything except my lungs slash ribs as that is a life-threatening injury at the moment.” Dick stared at Jason in concern. Jason must have sensed it because, without turning, he spoke. “What, Dick?” Dick didn’t reply immediately. “You’re staring at me. What?”

“I’m just… concerned is all. How can you just not acknowledge all of your injuries? It's not like you're moving on adrenaline right now."

Jason didn’t say anything for a moment, then mumbled, “Lifetime of practice of ignoring pain.”

Oh. Dick nodded sadly. They just sat in silence then, Jason focusing on his breathing and staying conscious, and Dick focusing on their situation. Though there wasn’t much to analyze about it besides the fact they were in a basement, it was a plot to kidnap the Wayne brothers, and both he and Jason were fairly injured. He honestly hoped something will happen soon.

* * *

It had been about an hour when night finally came, and Tim got to the cave in record time. But they had nothing. Not on who these people were or why or where they may have taken Dick and Jason. And of course, there was a possibility this wasn’t a ransom situation, or that these people know who they are under the masks and are trying to take them out. That fact that they practically put Jason on death’s door just to kidnap him did kind of point to the thought they knew he was Hood.

Bruce denied that instantly. “No, I don’t think that’s why. I think it was to make us more desperate. We just got Jason back. He legally became alive again just a couple months ago. If it looks like he may be close to dying, then they’ll think they can get more for him because we want to get him back before he dies.”

Tim sighed and rubbed his fingers on the bridge of his nose. “You know, that doesn’t make me feel any better.”

“I know,” Bruce replied quietly, returning to his search through the computer.

Bruce’s phone started to ring. He answered it quickly.

“Commissioner Gordon, good to hear from you,” Bruce said in a very forced, happy tone. He put it on speaker so Tim could listen.

“I wish it were good, Bruce. But, there was an explosion in midtown at an apartment building. It originated in a specific apartment. We don’t think it was an accident.”

“Okay?” Bruce stated.

Gordon sighed but sounded like he was upset too. “It was your son Jason’s apartment.”

“What? Is he okay?” Bruce acted ignorant though the worry was real.

“We don’t know. There’s no body and it looks like the door was broken down after the explosion. The debris for the door is inside, not out. We believe someone may have kidnapped him.”

Bruce didn’t say anything. After a moment Gordon continued.

“We’re going to do everything we can, Bruce. I know you just got him back. I swear we will find him. But let us know if you get any calls.”

“I will. Please keep me updated. Thank you, Commissioner.”

Bruce hung up and rubbed a hand down his face.

“At least it’s an official investigation now,” Tim said quietly. Bruce just nodded and looked back to the screens.

Tim turned as he heard Damian come down into the cave. He spoke in a way Tim doesn’t think he’s ever heard before. The kid actually sounded… worried.

“Pennyworth is quite distraught, primarily at the aspect of the explosion in Todd’s apartment. If I recall correctly, he and Todd put a lot of time into making it a decent place for him to live.”

Tim smirked a little. “Yeah, they did. But that’s probably not what he’s upset about. Jason died in an explosion. This is just too familiar and won’t be good when we get him back. If he is still alive anyway… he did stop breathing.” Damian nodded solemnly.

Tim’s mind was going down a place he didn’t want to go, and Bruce recognized that.

Bruce turned around to face them. “Tim, I am absolutely sure he is alive. He wouldn’t be good leverage if they let him die. Same goes for Dick. I’m sure they’re both fine.”

“Relatively speaking,” Tim added, quietly.

“We haven’t even gotten a ransom call from them yet,” Damian pointed out.

“If that _is_ what this about,” Bruce added cryptically, turning back around.

Tim was about to ask what the fuck he meant by that but was interrupted by lots of feet coming down the stairs. He looked over and saw Duke, Cass and Stephanie.

They all came to a stop by them, looking shocked and worried. Stephanie spoke first.

“Is it true? Dick and Jason are-” She cut herself off, staring at Bruce’s head then turning to Tim. Tim nodded.

Their two oldest brothers, the ones who also put protecting them over themselves, were the ones taken. They were supposed to be the indestructible ones in their minds. Dick was always the voice of hope, and Jason, the voice of confidence and determination.

Cass put her hand on Stephanie’s shoulder and spoke, determined. “What do we do?”

Bruce turned slightly. “Suit up and head out. Red Robin, Batgirl and Signal, go to Jason’s apartment. Robin and Spoiler, the place of Dick’s kidnapping. I’ll be here scouring the city and current cases. Oracle is on her way to help. Look for any clues. Night has fallen, we’ve got the advantage now.” They all nodded and ran to the locker rooms to put on their uniforms. They were out of the cave on their bikes and heading to the city within ten minutes. They split off early and went to their locations.

It was hard on some level to separate this from a normal case from their brothers are the case. But thankfully, they’ve had lots of practice concealing that personal connection. Tim knew they would need to as they approached Jason’s building and heard the sirens outside.


	2. Something about sewers

Dick was getting really thirsty and exhausted. Nothing has happened since they brought Jay down. The little daylight that seeped through the windows earlier was gone. They’d both been taken late-afternoon, so they’ve been here for a least a couple hours. But the light by the stairs was still on so he could make out Jason’s form.

Jason hasn’t spoken or even moved. He was focusing on his breathing, making very deliberate inhales and exhales to get as much air in as he could without pain. Occasionally it looked like he was on the verge of falling asleep which he really didn’t want to happen, because then Jason’s breathing would fall to his unconscious mind and that might not go well. Every time Dick thought Jason was starting to drift off, he’d nudge Jason’s leg, which Jason had moved closer to Dick for that very reason. Jason knew he couldn’t pass out either.

Dick would occasionally talk, just to keep himself awake, concussion and all, and Jason would just grunt or huff in reply to whatever he was saying. Unfortunately, at some point, in the darkness with Jason’s rhythmic breathing, Dick fell asleep and because Jason wasn’t focused on Dick, he didn’t see it.

He felt like he woke up just a minute later and it was to harsh movement against him and a very pissed off growl.

He looked up and saw that Jason had one of the goons, the shorter of the two from earlier, in a leg lock; his left leg was wrapped around his throat, squeezing his calf and thigh together and his right leg was wrapped under the guys right arm and bending back so his bare foot was on the back of the guy’s head. It was basically an arm lock but with his legs. The guy was clawing at Jason legs, trying to free himself. And it was Jason’s growl he had heard.

“There are at least six ways I can kill you with just my fucking toes. You fucking _touch_ my brother again, you’ll learn which one is my favorite.”

Jason squeezed his left knee a little bit tighter around the guys throat then released him. The guy scrambled away, gasping for breath. When he was on his feet he sprinted toward the stairs, ran into a post head first, dazed back, then maneuvered around it and up the stairs.

As soon as the door closed and the lock clicked, Jason let out a very pain filled groan.

Dick looked at him curiously and concernedly. “Jason, what just happened?”

Jason coughed for a moment and then returned to his relaxed position against the post. “The guy came down, saw you asleep, assumed I was too, and he crouched down in front of you and put a hand on your knee. That was as far as he got.”

“Before you yanked him away with your feet despite your _broken_ _ribs_ , about strangled him, _with your legs_ , and then sent him on his way.”

“Pretty much.”

Dick huffed with a slightly amused smile . “You’re an idiot.”

Jason huffed through his nose, but Dick saw the edge of his mouth curve up. “Fine. Next time I’ll let him do what he wants.”

Dick shook his head then looked at him with a genuine smile. “Thank you.”

“Sometimes little brother has to watch big brother’s back. It’s not always the other way around.” Jason turned his head a bit and opened his eyes. Dick knew he must have been smiling weird because Jason furrowed his brows. “What?”

Dick kept smiling. “It’s just- I’ve never heard you call me big brother before.”

Jason’s brows didn’t move. “I literally just called you my brother to that jackass.”

“Yeah, no, I- I meant the ‘big’ part. I’ve never heard you refer to me as that.”

Jason’s left brow went up. “Oh, well… I just thought it was given. Because you _are_ my big brother. I know we haven’t had the greatest of brotherly relationships, but- I’ve always looked up to you, even when you hated me, and I hated you.” Jason shrugged and turned his head back forward. “I’m pretty sure that’s what brothers do. Not the murder Lazarus pit-raged vengeance kind of hate I went through but, at the end of the day, you’re my brother, I’ll always have your back. And I’m coming to trust that you’ve got mine. Same goes for Tim, Duke and even the little brat. The girls are a given, obviously.”

Dick just smiled softly at this kind of mini-confession Jason just shared with him. “Me too,” he replied, referring to that he trusts him. Jason’s mouth curved a tiny bit again.

* * *

When Red Robin, Signal and Batgirl arrived at Jason’s building, the police department were still there, but as soon as the bats parked, the Commissioner pulled everyone out so they could work. They went up by the stairs to check for anything the men may have left behind there. Nothing. When they reached his floor, they split up; Signal went to investigate the kitchen, Batgirl went to the living room and Red Robin investigated the door.

It had clearly been kicked in by a heavy boot going by the breakage points. He turned his mask on to scan the point of breakage, where the foot would’ve been. There was some kind of inorganic substance on the pieces, like a dried liquid. He stood up, keeping the scanner on, and retraced his way back into the hall. The footprints were faint but increased in opacity as he went down the stairs. There were multiple sets of footprints, so they all were in the same place before, but what could cause actual footprints of miniscule inorganic bits as potent as these? He followed them all the way down, to the backdoor entrance and into the alley. The prints were stronger down here. Red Robin traced them with his eyes first, which widened at where they led.

He turned the scanner off, sprinted back inside and up to the apartment. Signal and Batgirl were conversing quietly. They turned to him.

“We’ve got nothing, Red,” Signal told him, frustrated.

Red Robin smirked. “I’ve got a lead.”

Both of their eyes widened, but the excitement was evident.

“Well, that’s good to hear,” a familiar voice said from behind him. Commissioner Gordon.

Red Robin turned around. “Yes. I believe the men who took Jason Wayne came and left through the sewers.”

“Oh, of course, why not,” Gordon grumbled then took a sip from his coffee.

“There’s another problem, Commissioner,” Red Robin started. He raised a brow. “We had Robin, Spoiler and Nightwing check on the other Wayne’s. There’s one more unaccounted for who’s apartment was also broken into. Dick Grayson.”

Gordon looked tired and sad by that as he rubbed his forehead. “I suppose I should let Bruce know. A family-napping. This is the opposite of great.”

Signal spoke quickly then. “Batman already told Mr. Wayne, assuring him we will find his sons, while also looking for more clues as to who would take them that Mr. Wayne might have.”

Gordon nodded, “Good. Glad I don’t have to tell him another one of his kids is missing. I remember when Jason died, or we thought he’d died, it tore Bruce apart. Can’t imagine how he’d handle going through that again. Plus another kid.”

“It will not come to that,” Batgirl said softly.

“Mr. Wayne did tell Batman that attempts were made on his sons Damian and Tim, but they were able to get away and are safe at Wayne Manor now,” Signal added, trying to assure the commissioner.

Gordon sighed. “Okay. Let me know if we can do anything on our end to help you. We’ll keep investigating but all you detectives decided to be bats instead of _actual_ paid detectives, so-” Gordon didn’t finish but he didn’t really need to. “I need to go call my daughter. She and Grayson were- close for a while. Still are if I’m honest.”

Gordon left then. Red Robin turned around to the others.

“Dude’s tired of Gotham’s shit I think,” Signal joked. Batgirl nodded.

Red Robin just sighed. “Come on. We have a sewer to investigate.” They didn’t reply and just followed him.

They only spent about ten minutes looking around because it was a sewer and any clues that may have been there were contaminated by now. So, they headed back to the cave. Spoiler and Robin were already there, with nothing.

Tim told Bruce about the sewer thing and he didn’t seem that hopeful of it actually providing a good lead. There were miles of sewers under Gotham.

“Wait, sewers,” Barbara cut in suddenly, whipping back around to the computer.

“What?” Bruce asked urgently, spinning his chair to face her as she typed.

“When we were going through the current case files, one of Red Hood’s cases that he’s been working on for like two months was about child trafficking and in it, the sewers were flagged as well as a lot of locations they use that are connected by the sewers. They use the sewers to transport the kids they take. Jason apparently hasn’t had the time to fully scout out all the sewers but he’s worked his way through a lot leading to half a dozen locations, even to places in Blüdhaven.”

“Okay, how do we even know this is what happened to Todd and Grayson? And how does that even help us find them?” Damian argued.

Barbara smirked like the genius she was. “One, it fits the pattern and it’s a pretty decent lead, especially because you and Steph noted some odd footprints as well leading to a nearby manhole. And to answer the second, we just look for which location is currently using power via the power grid.”

Damian didn’t say anything while the others smirked at him. It only took a minute for her to figure it out. Only one of the places Jason had marked was using electricity. And a lot of it at that.

“Okay, so we have a location. But did Jason note who’s behind all this? We need to know what we could be walking into,” Tim stated, beyond done and pissed with these people.

Barbara first looked to Bruce with a pained expression and then to the rest of them.

* * *

Jason and Dick were sitting in comfortable silence, focusing on making sure neither of them pass out again and it felt like another hour at least had passed. Probably more but it was hard to tell time down here.

Out of nowhere, light footsteps suddenly echoed loudly around the room, making Jason tense and Dick to hold his breath unconsciously. They weren’t from the staircase; they were from the shadows in the back of the room. A voice followed in step.

“Two brothers reunited at last, but then, so soon, separated. It’s a story that sells, don’t you think?”

The steps stopped on Jason’s left, the far side from Dick so he couldn’t see them, and just stayed there for a minute. Jason couldn’t turn to see who it was, but Dick knew he’d heard the voice before and it made him incredibly nervous.

Suddenly Jason started screaming in pain and seizing, arching his head back as much as he could which probably was hell on his ribs. A figure melted from the shadows and came around the post, revealing he was holding a cattle prod to Jason’s rib cage. When it finally stopped and Jason’s head dropped to his chest, Dick looked at who was holding the taser. His eyes widened.

Dick couldn’t tell if the man grinned at his reaction because of the obsidian skull covering his face. “Oh fuck. You’re the-”

“Black Mask,” the man finished for him. He was wearing a black suit to go with the mask. He twirled the cattle prod, then, looking at Dick, he stuck it on Jason’s left leg. Jason didn’t scream but Dick can see the immense pain on his face as his whole body tensed, back arching too much, and his mouth became a white line.

“Stop it!” Dick shouted.

Black Mask chuckled and stopped. He kept it dangling at his side. “Just a little punishment for him choking out one of my guards.”

Jason had been coughing roughly, fresh blood falling from his lips. Without so much moving his head from his chest, he looked at Mask and glared. “Then maybe you should tell them to keep their hands to themselves.”

Mask actually laughed. He put one hand in his pocket and with his other hand leaned the cattle prod on his shoulder like he was holding a baseball bat.

“You’ve got spunk kid. Probably why you survived so long on your own after you ‘died.’ It won’t matter soon enough though. The auction starts in less than an hour and I highly doubt it will last long. You are Wayne heirs after all and one that has been missing for so long truly does spike interest in the market. Buyers love a mystery. However, to keep you comfortable till then, two guards will be coming down to stay with you. And they can do whatever they please. Many buyers sometimes enjoyed damaged products. Easier to control that way.” Mask looked down at Jason who was still glaring. “Why do you think I had them blow up your apartment? Oh so similar to your so called death, wasn’t it?”

Jason instantly lowered his eyes, sucking in a breath. Dick glared intensely at Black Mask as he, while chuckling, walked away and up the stairs. They could hear him speak with someone. Dick was a lot more terrified and angry than he was before. This wasn’t some random kidnapping for ransom; it was high profile human trafficking.

Dick turned to look at Jason and felt all the blood in his body run cold in terror.

Jason’s chin was still touching his chest, blood still dripping from his slightly parted mouth, but he was completely lax again as he had stopped breathing.

“Jason!” Dick shouted at him, hitting his leg with his own, but Jason didn’t react, at all. Dick started shaking his head in horror. The taser must have stopped his heart.

“What’s going on, you pansies?” A guard, the deeper voiced one from earlier, asked as he came down the stairs, followed by the other, shorter one who closed and locked the door behind him.

“My brother is fucking dying, that’s what!” Dick growled in a tone he has rarely used.

Both of the goons eyes widened. The shorter one sprinted back up the stairs then came back down a few seconds later, after closing and locking the door again. He was holding a defibrillator. The taller guard moved around Jason’s post and unchained him. He dragged his body to the center of the room and crouched down beside him. “No way is the kid dying on our watch. Boss will kill us.” The one with the defibrillator nodded in agreement and knelt on Jason’s other side. Jason’s head was near Dick. He could see what was going on.

The shorter guard charged up the device while the other one ripped Jason’s shirt apart. The guard held out the two external shockers and leaned over Jason, holding them above his chest. He put them down and a charge of electricity coursed through his body. Jason didn’t move.

“Do it again!” The first guard ordered.

The other guard nodded and held the shockers over Jason’s chest again, but before either of them could do another thing, Jason’s hands shot out, broke both of the guard’s wrists, grabbed the shockers and hit both goons in the crotch, the electricity coursing through them from that spot. Both of them fell the rest of the way to the floor and were unconscious within seconds.

Jason dropped the shockers and they clattered loudly on the ground. He coughed roughly and turned himself over so he could push himself up. It was slow and less than a second in, Jason gasped and had an arm around his midsection. In that low position, he grabbed the ring of keys from the first guards hand. Then using one arm he pushed himself till he was standing. He made his way over to Dick.

Dick, who had just been staring at Jason in shock, couldn’t get a word out as Jason unlocked the chains on his wrists. Using his right leg and arm, he pushed himself into standing then leaned against the post for support. He glared a bit at Jason, though it softened a little at actually being able to see the massive amount of growing bruises around his ribs.

“Are you okay? What the fuck just happened?”

Jason, leaning against the post, chuckled but it sound more like a wheeze. “Ancient ninja trick. Slowed my heartbeat down to like nothing. My heart was already out of rhythm cause of the fucking cow taser, so it wasn’t hard to alter, though it was really not fun cause I did kinda die. Knew they’d have to revive me.”

Dick’s glare did not subside. “You are a fucking moron. You didn’t think to tell me this little plan?”

Jason huffed and started shuffling further back into the room. “Your reaction had to be real, Dickie Bird.” He came back over to Dick a minute later holding a long plank of wood which Jason then struck an old screwdriver into. “Makeshift crutch. Sorry, but I can’t be your crutch right now.” Dick took it while Jason then took off the remains of his shirt and before Dick could protest, made a sling for his left arm.

Dick gruffly nodded and accepted it. Not like the shirt would do Jason any good the way it was now anyway. “Okay. How do you plan on us getting out of here? We’re still in a locked basement of a house crawling with black mask groupies.”

Jason rose a brow. “How do you think Black Mask got in? Or do you really think he’d just been standing in the shadows and waiting hours for the perfect opportunity to tase me?”

Dick ignored the last bit and focused on the first question. He didn’t have to think that hard because Jason answered it for him.

“I’ve been tracking Black Mask and his _groupies_ for about two months. I knew he’d gotten into a new trade alongside drugs, but I hadn’t been able to figure out what it was. I had a hunch it was child trafficking but apparently age doesn’t matter. Learning first hand wasn’t preferable but now we’ve got the info. Anyway, I’m pretty sure I know what house we’re in. There’s good news and bad news with that.”

“Good news first,” Dick tiredly stated.

“There is a tunnel to the sewers down here. Black Mask probably uses it to cart people in and out. There’s a grate right beside the house which he probably used but we’ll keep on walking past it, obviously.”

“Okay. And the bad news?”

Jason just said it bluntly. “We aren’t in Gotham.”

Dick’s eyes widened and then he sighed deeply. “Where are we?”

“Blüdhaven.”

Dick groaned. “Great, like fifty miles then. Not to mention a bay in the middle.”

“Oh don't be so dramatic, it's only like twenty miles. Less than that because this house is about two miles up top from the bay. I’m guessing that’s how they got us out of Gotham, by the bay,” Jason supplied.

"You're telling me to not be dramatic?" Dick asked incredulously.

Jason smirked at him. "Yeah, I am, circus boy."

"Says the theatre boy," Dick countered. Jason rose a brow. "Yeah, Alfred told me."

Jason shrugged and moved toward the back wall. "He wouldn't have had to if you'd been around more often." Dick looked at the ground. He'd never really forgiven himself for not being around when Jason was Robin. Jason seemed to sense that and walked back up to him. "Sorry, I didn't really mean it in a- well a way I would have said that in the past. All that is ancient history alright? You're here now, all the fucking time." Jason grumbled the last bit, but Dick could hear the amusement in his voice.

Dick grinned at him. "And never going anywhere."

"Yeah, I know," Jason sighed, pretending to be annoyed at that. He smiled then. "Besides, now that I'm in college you might get to see me, if I try that sort of thing again." Dick grinned. "Okay. Back to the task at hand. Sewers, bay, back to Gotham."

“But do we really need to do that? Do you really imagine us using the sewers all the way out to the bay? It's not like when can catch a cab from there.”

Jason just rolled his eyes the best he could and walked to the back wall. “Obviously not, Big Bird. We just need to get far enough away to be out of their range, climb out and call in the family.” Jason found what he was looking for; a door hidden in the brick wall.

Jason fiddled for a moment and it opened, swinging inward toward the sewer, then he stepped through. Dick made his way over and carefully went in, Jason giving him a hand as the crutch couldn’t at the moment and he couldn’t use his left arm. Once Dick was in, Jason closed the wall and looked at it. There was a handle on this side and a bar to the left screwed into the wall, which likely used to be a railing. Jason leaned down, searched for a minute and then pulled a long disgusting rope out of the water. He used it to tie the handle and railing, connecting them with the most ridiculous and complicated knot Dick had ever seen.

Jason then stepped away, but faltered a bit on the sewer floor. He put one hand on the wall and the other around his ribs, sucking in a deep breath. That’s when Dick realized something.

“You’re not wearing shoes.”

Jason huffed pathetically. “Just now noticed? I know, Dick. But we don’t have a choice. I’ll try and stick to the shallower sides if it makes you feel better.”

Dick nodded. This wasn’t going to be a fun walk for either of them, or a fast one. Jason didn’t have a shirt anymore either and it was getting noticeably colder. With Jason’s lungs compromised, Dick just hoped that could make it out in time before Jason got sick too.

Jason took a deep breath, straightened as much as he could and began walking, his left arm never leaving his ribs and his right never leaving the wall. Dick walked beside him. They went in silence, listening intently to the sounds around them.

* * *

“The property is huge and probably crawling with his men. They’re probably being held in this basement that Jay marked as the sewer entrance to the house.” Tim stared down at the maps and notes from Jason’s case file and he once again was impressed by Jason’s work. He may go in guns blazing at times, but never without a solid plan.

Bruce nodded along with Tim. The others were all standing around the table as the collectively tried to make a plan to get Jason and Dick out and do Jason a favor by capturing Black Mask.

“Bruce! Guys!” Barbara called out from the batcomputer. They ran up beside her and looked at the screen. “I’ve been hacking through all the servers the ‘criminal underworld’ use and I found this.”

Their eyes widened while Stephanie spoke in shock. “That’s why we didn’t get a ransom call-”

“They’re being sold,” Duke finished for her sounding a bit horrified.

On the screen was a timer counting down to when the auction started and images of Dick and Jason under it. Under that was very disturbing note.

**_Wayne’s heirs_ **

_Products are damaged physically, though their goods are fine._

_The second has been retraumatized as well._

“This is sick,” Stephanie growled. “Absolutely fucking sick.”

No one replied because they were still staring at the screen. The timer was at one minute.

“Oracle, can you get the location of this broadcast?” Bruce asked urgently.

She nodded and got it in less than thirty seconds. It was the house they were already planning to attack. They were about to move but the timer hit zero and the timer was replaced with the live broadcast of Black Mask standing in what seemed to be a posh living room. Barbara put it on mute so they wouldn’t have to hear how their brothers were being advertised.

A minute of talking later, Black Mask gestured to his right and stepped aside, but nothing happened. Barbara quickly unmuted it.

“Bring them up, now!” He ordered. “And tell those two idiots down there they’re fired, in the worst way possible.” A man sprinted out of view then reappeared a minute later.

“They’re gone, sir,” the guy said in a rush.

Black Mask audibly growled and shoved the video camera to the ground. The video went static but before it completely died, they heard, “I want those two boys’ found! Alive or dead, I don’t care!” The sound cut out harshly cutting him off and that put them all into furious motion to go find their brothers before Black Mask did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be out Friday!


	3. Dead or alive? A bit of both

Dick and Jason were making slow progress. When they reached intersections, Jason would start them in a new direction. Dick knew Jason knew what he was doing, but he was getting more worried by the minute. Jason’s breathing was getting worse and he was stumbling a lot. Dick’s crutch was working for the most part, except the bottom was getting soggy from the water. Because of their physical conditions, they decided to just get to the bay exit which wouldn’t require climbing or lifting each other through a manhole.

After what was probably the seventh turn, Jason was straying behind Dick. He felt like they’d gone at least a mile, probably more, and he could see moonlight through some of the manholes, providing them a little light which they had quickly adjusted to.

“Hey ‘wing,” Jason muttered out. Dick turned around and saw Jason was leaning heavily against the wall. “What are we doin’ in a sewer?” His words were coming out oddly and it looked like he couldn’t keep his head up for more than a few seconds.

Dick’s eyes widened when he realized that Jason was a lot worse now.

Dick walked over to him and smiled gently, trying to conceal his fear and worry. “We’re trying to escape, remember? But, you should rest for a minute, okay?”

Jason shook his head and tilted off the wall. “No- no, we gotta… gotta-”

Jason’s eyes closed as he collapsed, hitting the wall and sliding down it till he was a crumpled ball on the sewer floor.

Dick let go of his crutch and dropped to his knees beside Jason. His left leg didn’t appreciate it but Dick couldn’t care less. He put his ear to Jason’s chest and heard a slowing heart and deep rattles with the shallow breaths he could get in. But those were fading too. Jason had minutes.

“No, no, no, nonono. Come on, Jason. Not like this. You can’t go like this,” Dick pleaded though he didn’t know who he was pleading to.

“ _Dick,_ ” Jason breathed out, gently grabbing his right hand with his left. Dick squeezed it back. Whatever he was going to say was cut off by the stampeding of feet coming closer, until they stopped at the end of the tunnel.

“Well, you didn’t get as far as I thought you would have, shame,” Black Mask gloated as he came around the corner. “That one dead? Oh well. Can probably get a huge sum from Wayne just so he can bury him properly this time.” Black Mask sounded all too pleased with himself, knowing he’d won. “You’re still sellable for a higher price on the market, though, I’m sure.”

Dick looked down at Jason, who was quickly growing paler and his pulse slowing beneath Dick’s fingers. Dick squeezed his eyes shut then glared up at Mask. “You may as well kill me. Because I’m not leaving my brother.”

Mask tilted his head and shrugged. “I suppose, since the auction was already ruined. But two corpses for one large payment from Wayne? Sounds just as good.” Black Mask quickly pulled out a gun and fired at Dick.

Dick felt Jason’s hand grip harder and pull him down. It wasn’t fast but rather than his head, the bullet went through his shoulder. He hit the concrete beside Jason. He ignored the new pain and looked at Jason, whose hand was still tight around his own. Dick flicked his eyes up to Jason’s. His were weakly opened. His mouth was parted and Dick heard a small exhale, but there was no inhale that followed. His eyes closed once more and his hand went slack in Dick’s. Dick’s eyes widened, not wanting to believe what he’d just witnessed, for a second time tonight.

“Little bit of fight left in him, huh?” Black Mask chuckled as he and his men walked over to them. The man gestured toward Dick and two men came over and dragged Dick away by his arms then pushed him to his knees about ten feet away. Black Mask sauntered up beside Jason. “Let’s just be sure he’s really gone, shall we? Then I’ll get back to you.” That’s when Dick saw the metal pipe in his hand. He swung it at Jason’s ribs and there was a loud crack as ribs broke further, but Jason didn’t react.

Dick could hear the grin in Black Mask’s voice. “Guess he’s dead. Actually this time. At least he won’t be going over alone.”

Black Mask dropped the pipe, walked up to Dick and aimed his gun at Dick’s forehead. Dick didn’t close his eyes. He stared down the barrel and up at the coward’s face.

In an instant, it was pitch black. Not from a bullet to the head, but the sewers instantaneously became dark without a shred of light. Dick smirked. He heard Black Mask take a few steps back from him.

“What the fuck is this?” Mask screamed.

Dick felt the two goons’ hands holding him disappear and be replaced by very gentle hands which moved him back and to the side of the sewer.

A moment later, the darkness crawled away and Batman was standing less than a foot away from Black Mask who, with a terrified little shriek, stumbled backward and fell on his ass. Batman may be dramatic and extra as hell, but from this perspective, it was fucking hilarious in the best way.

Dick glanced beside him and saw Spoiler and Batgirl. Signal was running toward them from the end of the tunnel. Dick looked back over toward Jason and watched as Red Robin and Robin gently pulled him into a small alcove raised a little above the water level and lay him flat on the dry concrete. Tim started pulling some things from his belt while Robin scanned his vitals. Signal ran over, looked at Jason for a moment then kneeled at the edge of the alcove, moving his arm like he was directing Red.

“ _Brother_ ,” Batgirl breathed out, watching the scene, and Spoiler gasped when she realized. They gently helped Dick up and across the tunnel. They sat him beside Jason. Red Robin was currently injecting something into his system. There was a dark colored syringe beside his arm, blood coating the needle.

Batman suddenly growled loudly, no doubt knowing Jason was in really bad shape, and yanked Mask up by his jacket who hadn’t gotten very far in his crawl backward. Mask’s groupies had already run for it. Bats didn’t care, his was only concerned with Black Mask.

“How the fuck did you-” Mask clambered out.

Batman intensified his grip. “You kidnap _Bruce Wayne_ ’s kids and think we wouldn’t notice? Red Hood has been tracking you for months and when he figured out you were behind their abduction, he slipped us the information we needed to find you in exchange for taking you out.”

“I did? When did I do that?” a very quiet and raspy voice said below Dick.

They’d all been watching Batman, none of them noticed Jason was breathing again. Dick whipped down to look and huffed out a laugh, tears falling on their own accord. He grabbed Jason’s hand and squeezed as hard as he could. He wanted to hug him and never let go, but, right now wasn’t a good idea. Jason weakly squeezed back. He didn’t try to move otherwise, didn’t even open his eyes.

“Hm. Looks like they revived Jason Todd. You lose,” Batman growled intensely which, to their ears, just sounded pretty lame. Batman then, still holding Mask in one hand, punched him as hard as he could then let go of his jacket. Mask went flying about fifteen feet and his head made a very loud noise when it hit the concrete.

Batman left Mask there and ran over to them in the sewer alcove. He actually allowed emotion to break his façade as he looked at Jason.

Jason didn’t even look, but knew he was there. He quipped out, still only at a whisper, “You lose? Really? That’s what you say to the guy who was about to sell your sons away slash murder them? You can do better than that, B.”

Batman gasped out a laugh, a bit of tension leaving his body. “It was the only thing I could come up with in the moment.”

The tension dropped like a piano back over them all as Jason started coughing harshly, blood trying to leave his mouth. Red Robin and Signal were at his side in an instant to help him sit up so he could breathe better and not choke on his blood.

Batman took two strides over and extremely gentle, picked up Jason and cradled him so his head was against his chest. Jason’s breaths were coming out in weak gasps.

“You need to stay awake, Jaylad. Don’t give up on us now,” Bruce whispered to him.

Jason cracked his eyes open. “Wouldn’t…dream…of it.”

Batman looked to the rest of them. “Red Robin, Batgirl, and Robin, deal with Black Mask. Call the BPD about his men and the house. Meet us in Gotham when it’s done.”

The three nodded and sprinted over to the unconscious crime lord. Signal and Spoiler helped Dick stand, putting his arms around their shoulders. Batman led the way further down the tunnel and turned left. Dick was kind of surprised to see their exit was where the sewer met the bay. He and Jason had almost made it.

They exited quickly and toward the batplane waiting off to the right. As soon as they were on, Dick and Jason were strapped onto stretchers, Jason with an oxygen mask. Batman then quickly got the plane in the air. He radioed to the Commissioner that they found them and needed to land on the hospital helipad.

They landed on the roof of Gotham General and when Signal, Spoiler and Batman rolled them off the plane, nurses and doctors were already there and talking in a way that just sounded like babble to Dick’s ears. They took them away toward the elevator, while the bats got back on the plane and left. Dick knew they’d be back as soon as possible, just wearing different clothes.

Jason’s stretcher was ahead of Dick’s and he saw them take him into the first emergency room they passed, doctors were instantly on him. They took Dick a few rooms down. As they neared, Dick finally processed that they had put an IV anesthetic in his arm and he passed out before they got through the doors.

* * *

Red Robin was growing seriously impatient with the BPD who were taking fucking forever to search the house for evidence and arrest all the men working for Black Mask. They believed the bats when they told them what happened but they just had to be sure or some shit.

He suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder and his body somehow instantly relaxed. He turned and gave Batgirl a smile. She then tapped on the com in her ear. Red nodded and turned his back up. Batman was talking.

“-left the helipad, both Dick and Jason were taken to the emergency room. We’re heading back to the hospital now, Alfred is waiting at the manor for you all. Dick will likely been done within an hour. I- I don’t know about Jason.” Bruce’s voice wavered on Jason’s name. The com went silent then.

As soon as Black Mask was taken away in a heavily armed police van and headed off to Blackgate, they left the scene. They had taken the batmobile in addition to the plane, assuming they would need to split up. Red Robin jumped into the driver’s seat, Batgirl in shotgun and Robin in the back who actually didn’t argue.

Tim drove the fastest he has ever gone in that car, but he was laser focused and drove perfectly. They got to the cave in half the time it took to get to Blüdhaven. They jumped out of the car, didn’t bother showering and just changed into whatever clothes they had in their lockers. The sprinted up to the house and out front where Alfred was waiting for them in a running car. Tim took shotgun and Cass and Damian were in the back.

Alfred started driving before they even had seatbelts on. They were all worried, for both of their brothers. But Dick, they knew he would be okay; he just had broken bones and a shoulder gunshot wound that went straight through. But Jason, he was actually dead, at least twice tonight; no breathing and no heartbeat. If Tim hadn’t remembered the adrenaline in his belt, Jason would still be dead. They couldn’t restart the heart with resuscitation because Jason’s ribs were already broken and would only damage his lungs further which were at least definitely bruised. When Mask hit Jason with the pipe and was no longer breathing – Duke saw it with his vision – his right lung had been punctured. Thanks to Duke’s vision, Tim was able to use a retractable syringe from his belt to drain some of the fluid around the collapsed lung, but he still wasn’t breathing. That’s when he used the adrenaline to start his heart.

Tim was coping by thinking over everything that happened and what they did. He didn’t even realize when they reached the hospital.

They entered through the emergency room entrance. As soon as the lady at the desk saw them, she smiled sadly and pointed to the waiting room. They looked and saw Bruce pacing, Duke staring off into space, and Stephanie beside him curled up as tightly as she could get in her chair. And Barbara was sitting at the end of the row, also staring off. They walked over to them. Cass sat beside Stephanie, putting a hand on her back and leaned her head against her shoulder. Damian sat between Duke and Barbara and started fidgeting with his hands. Damian has been in a trance like state since they left the crime scene.

Alfred and Tim walked over to Bruce. Before they could ask what Bruce knew they were going to ask, he shook his head at them and continued pacing. Tim went and sat with his siblings while Alfred remained standing near Bruce.

About twenty minutes later, a doctor emerged from the ER hall and came right up to them. Tim and the others stayed seated and Bruce finally stopped pacing.

The doctor smiled tiredly at him. “Mr. Grayson is out of surgery and is being taken to a recovery room. His injuries were not severe. A fracture in his shin and his forearm. And the gunshot wound was not worrisome as it was nowhere near any organs, though he did suffer some blood loss. There was also a head injury but it only caused a minor concussion. Aside from that and dehydration, he’s okay. You’ll be able to see him shortly.”

They all sighed in momentarily relief. Relief shattered a second later.

“What about Jason?” Damian asked in a hurry.

The doctor nodded with a sigh. “He’s still in surgery and it is critical. As I was coming out to you I stopped by the room. He has at least nine broken ribs; one of his lungs was punctured rather severely and an artery near the heart was torn. I’m fairly certain there are other injuries but those are the only ones I’m aware of.”

No one said anything for a minute. It didn’t seem like any of them were breathing. Tim wasn’t.

They all collectively took a breath when Bruce suddenly spoke, “Thank you.”

The doctor nodded and smiled sympathetically. “A nurse will take you to Mr. Grayson’s room when he’s ready. Any news on Mr. Todd will be sent there. I’m really sorry, I know it must be horrible to go through this.” There was an _again_ implied at the end of that sentence. They were grateful he didn’t say it. The doctor walked back into the ER.

None of them moved. Not for about ten minutes until a nurse came to them and led them to Dick’s room which was on the tenth floor. Dick was asleep when they entered and a blanket covered most of him. His left leg was in a cast and on a pillow, they could make it out under the blanket, and his left forearm was also in a cast and resting on a pillow on top of the blanket . His right arm was in a sling, likely to prevent the bullet wound from reopening. And there was a bandage wrapped around his head.

It was a large room with a lot of seating. They likely put Dick in this room as they knew there was a lot of family. They meandered in and claimed different seats. It was still dark outside, as it was only one in the morning, and none of them resisted the sleep that took them.

* * *

Bruce looked at his first son’s face. It was pale, dirty, and he could make out the purplish bruise growing from his forehead. He sighed and looked to his other children, all sleeping: terrified and exhausted, mentally and physically. But there was one missing.

Bruce couldn’t believe this was happening again. The possibility of losing Jason for a second time has been hanging in front of his face since Tim told him Jason had been abducted.

And now, _now_ , Jason was in critical condition with a chance of not recovering from what Black Mask and his men did to him. Bruce just couldn’t process it and couldn’t sleep. It was four more hours before a doctor came into the room. Bruce was the only one awake. He stood up and she gestured to the hall. They went out and she closed the door.

Bruce faced the doctor, fear edging its way into him.

“Mr. Wayne, I’m Doctor Copperson. Firstly, he’s alive.”

Bruce exhaled deeply and put his head in his hands, relieved just by that one word. After a moment he looked back up so the doctor could continue.

“He is in the ICU until his lungs are stable. He has thirteen broken ribs, most of which seemed to have been broken at least twelve hours prior to arriving here. The explosion we were told about probably caused those, along with a few minor burns. Because of the severity of the breaks and to prevent them from harming his lungs further, we used screws to keep the bones in place. That will also speed up the healing process. His right lung was collapsed upon arrival and his left is bruised, as well as a torn artery near his heart which caused some internal bleeding, but it seemed like a new development when he arrived. The right lung is working but we are concerned about it. It’s possible it had collapsed before, perhaps during that explosion and then roughly fixed by his kidnappers, so the lung is very weak.” She paused so Bruce could take that in. He was grateful for that, because that was quite a bit. He took a breath and nodded for her.

She smiled slightly then continued. “He also has a broken ankle that seemed highly agitated, along with some bruises and cuts on both of his feet and ankles. Understanding the state he was in as he walked barefoot through a sewer tunnel, he probably just didn’t notice or feel it. He has a minor concussion but it’s not something we are concerned about. He’s fairly bruised but they, aside from the ones around his ribs, should heal in a couple weeks.

“What we are really concerned about is that at some point, likely in the sewers, both of his lungs became infected, and to put it simply, he has pneumonia and as of the moment with his lungs in this weakened state, it is severe. That is why he is in the ICU and is currently on a ventilator. We’ve given him antibiotics to fight it but there is no telling how long it will take for him to heal at this point. We’ve put him on sedatives as well to prevent the possibility of him hurting himself in his sleep.”

“Bloody hell,” Bruce muttered under his breath. Despite how quiet he said it, she heard it.

“I know it’s a lot, Mr. Wayne, but I believe he will get through this. After all he’s been through, I’m confident he will recover.”

Bruce furrowed his brows at her. “What do you mean, ‘after all he’s been through,’ Doctor?”

She spoke gently. “I’m sure, or hope, you are aware of the old scars that litter his body.”

Bruce inhaled deeply and nodded. “Yes, right.”

“Right. Do you have any questions right now for me, Mr. Wayne?”

He only had one question.

“Can I see him?”

Dr. Copperson was about to tell him he couldn’t because the answer is not yet, but Bruce asked again. “I know he just got to the ICU, I know, but please, just a minute? I just- I _need_ to _see_ him.”

Doctor Copperson sighed, gave him a small smile then gestured for him to follow her. They walked silently as Bruce prepared himself for what he’d see. It took about ten minutes to get to the ICU as it was on the other side of the hospital and on another floor. She led him to the back of the ward where the private rooms were. Private in that the beds were separated by walls rather than by curtains, and were typically used for patients of longer residency.

“Due to the press going crazy with the story of his kidnapping, we placed him back here as a precaution from anyone recognizing him. He'll also be here for a while so, it's the most comfortable we can get for him” She stopped before a room which had dim lights casting through the glass door and windows. “Five minutes, Mr. Wayne,” she said kindly then walked back to the main ward.

Bruce stood in the hallway for a moment, took a breath then went up to the door. He saw Jason on the bed inside and he felt his entire resolve shatter. He opened the door and walked in. Looking at him, his boy, white as a ghost, bruised and near dying, for a second time in his life, he couldn’t hold it back. He knelt beside the bed and let himself break. He could take the wall down for just a moment.

“I’m sorry, Jaylad… I’m _so sorry_.”

He let himself cry for another minute and then made himself calm down. He only had three minutes left to sit with him. Jason was covered by the blankets up to his chest. The only thing telling Bruce he was alive was the slight chest movements and the heart monitor beeping every second or so. The ventilator, an oxygen tube down his throat with a mask concealing half his face, is what really hit him about how serious this was. This would have been Jason five years ago if Bruce had gotten to him in time. Bruce didn’t want to ever see Jason like this again.

Bruce felt another sob come up his throat but he forced it down and grabbed Jason’s hand through the blankets. He just stared at his face which he couldn’t really see past the oxygen mask. Bruce desperately wanted to see his eyes, the light turquoise green that were so full of life, and his cocky smirk when he said something clever. He wanted to hear him joke with his brothers and laugh with his sisters. He just wanted his son. A son he’d already lost once and nearly did again tonight. Just because of some stupid crime lord. Because Bruce had made him a target by bringing him back to life, publicly. Bruce couldn’t lose him again, he just couldn’t, he couldn’t go through that again, not after they just got him back. Not ever. It took two years to bring him completely back into the fold and accepted by everyone, and only a few months have passed since Bruce got to tell the world he was home.

Bruce squeezed his eyes shut, water discretely sliding down his face. He took Jason’s hand in both of his, and rested his forehead on them.

“Mr. Wayne,” a soft voice said. He turned to the nurse now standing in the open door.

Bruce nodded slightly then turned back to Jason. He let go of his hand and got to his feet. He leaned down and kissed Jason’s forehead, which was radiating with heat. He ran a hand through his hair, pausing a little at the white streak in his bangs, wanting to just leave his hand there, so Jason would know he was there.

He straightened, took a deep breath, then followed the nurse out. She led him out of the ICU and back to Dick’s room.

When he walked into the room, everyone but Dick was awake and silent. But there was another presence in the room. Bruce looked to his right and saw Selina Kyle sitting in the chair beside Dick. She smiled a tiny bit but didn’t get up yet. His family were waiting to hear about Jason, staring at him. They could all tell he was upset because he saw their faces slowly morph into horror and grief. Bruce knew the faster he got it out the better for them it would be.

His voice was shaky but he tried to mask it. “He’s alive. He’s alive,” he repeated a couple times till he knew everyone breathing again. “He’s out of surgery but- but he’s in the ICU. He’s not stable yet, and- and he’s caught a severe case of pneumonia. The doctors are confident he’ll pull through though.”

His family all sighed in little relief with a few tired, sad nods, followed by muffled sniffles from Stephanie and Damian.

“So we have no estimable time he’ll be released from there,” Tim stated. Bruce nodded. Tim put his head in his hands, elbows on his knees, and just stayed like that. Bruce knew what he was thinking; every moment he was in the ICU meant there was the higher chance Jason could become worse, a lot worse.

Bruce walked over to Selina who stood up to meet him. She didn’t say anything but just hugged him tightly. He returned it, feeling comfort that she was there with them. They stayed like that for a moment and then let go. Bruce pulled up another chair to Dick’s bedside so they were sitting together.

“How bad are his injuries?” Duke asked. He had used his vision to look at Jason’s chest in the sewers, so he knows the injuries, but he’s hoping he saw wrong.

Bruce smiled slightly. “We’ll talk about it later in the morning. Just get some more sleep.” His kids didn’t argue and returned to the positions they had been sleeping in. Except Damian who got off the couch from beside Stephanie and to Dick’s bed. He climbed on and curled up at Dick’s feet, using his right leg as a pillow. Stephanie fully laid out on the couch now. Cass left her chair and laid on top of Stephanie like a blanket, holding her.

Alfred was sitting in the chair on the other side of the bed, just staring at Dick, and Barbara was rolled up to the bed, resting her head on her arms by Dick’s arm on the bed. Selina scooched her chair to be directly against Bruce’s, then took his hand and leaned her head on his shoulder. He put his head against hers.

“They’ll be okay,” she whispered to him, without moving. “Jason will come back from this. I know it.” Bruce just smiled a little. With his eyes, he looked to Dick’s face. Dick looked more at peace than how Jason looked. Bruce closed his eyes. He just can’t believe his two eldest sons went through this, and his two youngest almost did. Thankfully, Duke wasn’t officially a Wayne yet so he wasn’t a target and they didn’t target Cass so. But his children will always be targets, during the day as Wayne’s and at night. At least at night they can better defend themselves. Bruce will just have to find a better way to protect them during the day.

Bruce sighed and tried to push it all from his thoughts. He kept his head against Selina’s head and stared at Dick, watching as as he breathed in a calm rhythm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter will be posted either tomorrow or Sunday!
> 
> Just to say, I know very little about medical procedures and ICU's etc. but I tried to do research so I hope it's at least fairly accurate for anyone who would actually know :D if something is off in that area, please let me know :)
> 
>   
> find me @ https://little-wayward-bird.tumblr.com/


	4. Who says you only live once?

Bruce woke up from Selina poking his arm. He gently lifted his head from hers and looked down at her. Her short hair was sticking out in weird places but Bruce still looked fondly at her. She smiled apologetically at him.

She whispered, “Sorry, but my neck was killing me.”

Bruce let out a quiet, amused huff. “It’s okay. What time is it?”

“I don’t know, but looking out the window I’d say about sunrise. So, seven-ish”

“Hmm,” Bruce replied, following her gaze to the window. Their hands were still intertwined. He looked down at her and met her eyes. “Thank you for being here.”

Selina cocked her head, smiling just a bit. “Where else do you think I would be when two of your kids, pretty much my kids at this point, are in the hospital, and not from nightly activities? Especially Jason.” She said the last part more under her breath.

Bruce smiled, released her hand than draped his arm around her shoulders. Selina’s arms snaked their way around Bruce till she was hugging him tightly. He put his other arm around her and placed his chin on her head.

“Oh, get a room you two, this one’s already taken,” a groggy amused voice muttered.

Bruce and Selina immediately let go and turned to Dick. Bruce smiled, almost feeling like crying, at seeing his eldest awake. He stood up and went to his bedside. They stayed quiet so as not to wake the others. He kept himself from grabbing Dick’s left hand as it was broken, so he just ran a hand through his hair.

“How ya feeling, chum?” Bruce asked, knowing he’d get a smile from the nickname.

Dick smiled sleepily up at him. “I dunno, can’t really feel anything.”

“They’ve got a lot of stuff going through you right now.”

Dick moved his head in what was probably supposed to be a nod. Then he furrowed his brows. “How’s Little Wing?”

Bruce sighed but was kept from answering when he heard the PA turn on in the hallway. It was faint through the door but he heard it.

_“Dr. Copperson to the ICU. Dr. Copperson to the ICU.”_

Bruce’s blood ran cold.

“Bruce?” Dick tried to get his focus back. “What’s wrong?”

Bruce took a breath and a step back. “That’s Jason’s doctor.”

He didn’t wait for anything else and sprinted out of the room, faintly hearing Dick ask, “Jason’s in the ICU?” He ran as fast as he could. The nurses and patients didn’t appreciate it but Bruce had to get there. Even if they didn’t let him in, he was going to _be there_.

When he arrived and looked through the glass panels on the door, he saw a couple doctors, including Dr. Copperson, and nurses hurrying to the back where the private rooms were.

Bruce walked through the door and stopped beside the nurse’s station. The nurse there had come around and stood in front of him.

He spoke kindly. “It is your son, Mr. Wayne, and I know, but you can’t go back there right now. The doctors will help him.”

Bruce nodded slightly, just staring back toward where he knew his son was.

The nurse directed him to a chair beside the doors he had barged through. “You can wait here, Mr. Wayne. Please, just wait here.”

Bruce sat and nodded, feeling really out of focus right now. He didn’t know what was happening. Jason could be dying this moment and he couldn’t be by his side. Bruce shook his head. _No, do not think that way_. It’s probably just a minor thing. He’s going to be fine. He repeated it like a mantra till nothing else was going through his mind.

It felt like an hour before a nurse came out and walked to him, though looking at his watch, it’d only been twenty minutes. It was the same nurse who’d led him out of the ICU earlier, but she had some blood on her now. He vaguely recalled her name was James.

“Mr. Wayne, he’s not dying. It was nothing critical. He’s okay.”

Bruce exhaled harshly in relief, dropping his head into both of his hands and hating the emotional whirlwind he was on right now. He took a few deep breaths then looked up at her. “What happened?”

“Dr. Copperson will brief you more fully when she’s done, but, Jason very abruptly, and rather harshly, woke up.”

Bruce’s eyes widened. “I thought he was sedated?”

She nodded, looking thoughtful. “He was. I was in the room when it happened, just checking his monitors, when he started flinching and mumbling in his sleep, and then bolted up with a very strangled shout due to the ventilator. This led directly into a really intense physical panic attack, made worse I think by the ventilator. We had to restrain him until we could get more sedatives into him. It took several minutes for him to go under again. None of the nurses were injured. It’s not uncommon for patients to have nightmares here because of all the drugs in their system, but I’ve never seen a reaction so intense before. During his attack he opened several of his sutures and dislodged the ventilator some, but not enough to be concerning; Dr. Copperson just took him back to surgery to redo them and make sure nothing worse happened.”

Bruce put his head back in his hands, trying to keep his emotions controlled.

“Mr. Wayne-”

“Bruce, please- just Bruce.”

The young nurse paused, as though slightly uncomfortable by the request. Rather than saying his name, she just spoke.

“Has Jason had nightmares in the past?”

Bruce nodded sadly, dropping one of his hands and rubbing the back of his head with the other. “Jason, after whatever happened the four years after he had disappeared, came home and this was a little under a year ago, he had nightmares every night, but he would never tell us what they’re about. They’ve lessened in frequency as Jason has recovered with us at home, but I imagine yesterday’s events, with the explosion and the kidnapping, just brought all those memories he keeps hidden and forgotten right to the surface.”

James nodded and asked kindly, “Has he ever talked about what happened during those missing years?” She wasn’t prying, she was assessing.

Bruce leaned back in the chair and lightly shook his head. “Not in detail, no. Just bits and pieces.” It honestly wasn’t a lie. Jason has never really talked about what happened, just the main stuff.

She looked pensive for a long moment then spoke again, like she was collecting his medical history, or rather the absence of it.

“Has Jason ever seen a psychologist?”

“I’ve tried to bring it up with him but he was very against the idea. And he seemed to be getting better at home, surrounded by the family, so I didn’t push.”

James smiled sadly. “I understand. But may I suggest, at least a psychiatrist? To prescribe medicine to help with the nightmares; medicine for his PTSD would also be highly beneficial, I believe. It’s just- in my past few years working here in the ICU, I’ve never seen a panic attack like that before, except by Scarecrow victims. If they occur at this intensity with any kind of regularity, it may be worse than he’s telling you.”

Bruce had no doubts Jason’s mental state was worse than he let on. He simply nodded. “I’ll try to discuss it with him again.”

“Okay. However, Dr. Copperson has already contacted the psychologist here to prescribe medicine to keep him from having nightmares while sedated, and due to the severity of the attack, we’re going to keep him under until his injuries and lungs heal more, to where he no longer needs the ventilator. Dr. Copperson will talk to you more about it all later.”

Bruce understood that was the end of the conversation, sensing the nurse needed to go somewhere else.

“Of course. Thank you, Nurse James. I’ll just- go back to Dick’s room, if you could tell Dr. Copperson I’m there, for whenever she has time.”

She smiled sympathetically. “Of course.” She walked away towards the nurse’s station. Bruce sighed deeply and stood up. He made his way back to Dick’s room slowly. When he got there, about twenty minutes later, he paused outside the door. He could hear worried chatter going on, the loudest being Dick. They probably told him about Jason’s condition. He inhaled deeply through his nose and masked his intense concern so his kids don’t automatically think something horrible happened.

He opened the door and the room went quiet. He walked in and just sat down.

“Was it Jason?” Tim asked gently.

Bruce nodded gently. “He apparently had such an intense nightmare it overpowered the sedatives and he woke in a severe panic attack. They had to restrain him till they could sedate him again. He tore some of his sutures during it. He’s in surgery again to repair any damage that may have happened.”

No one replied and it seemed like they were holding their breaths. They all knew Jason had the worst nightmares out of all of them. Bruce was pretty sure none of them could really even imagine what they’re like. Bruce looked over at Dick.

His eldest was glaring up at the ceiling and controlling his breathing through his nose. Bruce reached over and put his hand on his arm. Dick looked down at him and the anger was replaced by intense sadness and a bit of guilt. Bruce didn’t say anything. He just gave him a small smile and squeezed his arm a little. Dick sighed and looked back up at the ceiling.

The rest of the day went by in nurses and doctors checking on Dick and telling him what recovery would look like for him. Dr. Copperson came in early afternoon and talked to the whole family about Jason’s condition and that’ll he’ll likely be in the ICU for a least a week, probably longer, because of the pneumonia. The good news of the day was that Dick was released to go home in the afternoon, via wheelchair which will be his mode of transportation for quite some time, much to Dick and Barbara’s amusement. Alfred and Selina took all of the kids home in the early evening. Bruce had declared multiple times that he wouldn’t be leaving the hospital until Jason does, however long that takes.

* * *

The next two weeks were marked with cups of coffee, hospital cafeteria food, sleeping on the couch in Jason’s room, occasional visits from Selina, and everyday visits from his kids. Not all at once but often in pairs. They brought him a blanket and a pillow on the second day after realizing the couch didn’t actually have big pillows. Every few days, Alfred made Bruce go home to shower and get a fresh pair of clothes, while promising to stay with Jason till he got back. Bruce was never gone for more than an hour, he refused.

Jason’s condition hadn’t changed much; by the end of the first week, Jason’s fever was starting to go down, but his lungs were still inflamed. There were no more nightmare incidents as they upped the sedation amount, painkillers, and the psychologist the nurse mentioned prescribed him medicine which for now, is being administered through his IV. For Jason’s own safety they kept him under, making sure he wouldn’t wake up, panic, and hurt himself trying to get out.

By the third week, Dr. Copperson took Jason off the ventilator. She still had him on oxygen but he no longer needed it to be fed directly to his lungs. It was a really nice change to be able to see Jason’s face fully. Because his lungs were healing and functioning on their own now, they started gradually weaning down the sedatives so he won’t suffer withdraws from it. They did the same with the painkillers. They’re confident he should wake up on his own by the end of the week.

That Saturday, Bruce woke up to two voices speaking near him. He wasn’t usually awoken so easily, but he hasn’t been sleeping well all this time, so he’s not that surprised, thinking about it. He opened his eyes and saw Tim sitting in the chair on the right of the bed and Dick in his wheelchair by the foot of Jason’s bed.

“Jason is going to be so mad he missed his midterms,” Tim mused, sounding sad and happy about that.

Dick chuckled a little, voice perfectly clear and back to health. “Especially about that essay he had to do that he was stressing over trying to decide what to do it on. Knowing him, even though his teachers have exempt him from everything till he recovers, Jason will still write it anyway.”

Tim nodded, smiling brightly. He took a sip from his coffee cup then and his eyes darted over to Bruce. His smile softened.

“Morning, Bruce. Your back dead yet?”

Both his boys seemed amused at that notion and already knew that yes, his back was killing him. He was laying on the stiff couch which was opposite of Jason’s bed. He carefully uncurled and stretched out his legs before sitting up, pressing into the back of the couch.

“The press are outside again,” Tim mentioned. “Got some pictures of me and Dick coming in, but thankfully the hospital security is keeping them out of the building.”

Bruce nodded. He’d been expecting the vultures of the press to circle them during all this. Hopefully, by the time Jason is released, they’ll have given up. It’s already been three weeks. Bruce will absolutely not tolerate the press jumping all over Jason. Not anytime soon.

“Also, the city underlife is starting to act up, realizing that Batman really hasn’t been seen in three weeks. We’re handling it but they’re only really terrified of you so. Jason’s section has been surprisingly quiet, likely because Black Mask was carted off to prison. The rumors there is that Red Hood took him out, so, no one wants to step up and take control yet.”

“Good,” Bruce agreed. “Jase would be even more upset if he lost control of the Alley after all he’s put into it this last year.”

“Yeah,” Dick replied quietly, looking at Jason.

Bruce stood up then, stretching his back as he did, and moved to sit in the chair on the other side of Jason’s bed, against the window. “How are you today, Dick?”

Dick smiled and rolled his chair back and forth, using his right hand. “I’m alright. The pain meds are still working well.” His smile fell a little then as he glanced at Jason again.

“I’m sure he’ll wake up soon. This is Jason we’re talking about,” Bruce assured them. They both smiled in amusement. “How long have you two been here?”

“Just about half an hour,” Tim stated. “I grabbed you a coffee, but it’s probably cold by now.”

Bruce shrugged, he didn’t really want any right now anyway.

Dick rolled his eyes. “You still need something to eat though. Come on, Tim, let’s go get the old man some of those waffles they have down there. Me some, too.” Tim nodded with a smirk. “Will be back in like ten minutes, Bruce,” Dick told him and then let Tim push him out of the room.

Bruce smiled at their fading figures then turned back to Jason. He grabbed his hand in both of his and just held on. Jason’s breathing was steady, unlike it had been for the first two weeks, and his heartbeat was strong. Bruce closed his eyes and rested his forehead on his hands. He breathed with the rhythm of Jason’s, finding peace in just knowing he was breathing.

The past few weeks have been a nightmare. Dick told him all that happened, concluding that Jason actually died three times in a twelve hour period; where his lungs and heart stopped working. And all this time, in this bed, it could happen again, with no warning.

The hand under Bruce’s moved.

* * *

Everything was dark. Jason stood in the middle of nothing. He could sense things trying to get close to him and knew they were things that wanted to hurt him: memories, demons, all the thoughts of why he was even alive. But something was keeping them back, and Jason felt, at peace, almost.

He couldn’t feel himself, as if he wasn’t real. Everything seemed vivid, but it was like he wasn’t actually in his body. He couldn’t remember anything before just standing in this void of black. He also didn’t know how long he’d been in it.

Suddenly, he began to hear very faint voices: amused and also sad. Jason felt drawn to it, like it was something familiar. He began moving, and the voices grew until it sounded like they were right beside him. Jason knew that he recognized them and desperately wanted to cling onto it, to let it pull him out of the void. But he saw nothing. And then the voices faded away till they just stopped. Jason ran after where he thought they went. He suddenly felt like he was being pulled through a very thick fog then gasped internally as he felt himself.

He could feel his body, knew he was in it, and felt… awake. He didn’t know where he was, but he did recognize that he couldn’t really move. And also that his left hand was sort of trapped in something wet and hot. He took a deep breath and felt immediate pain around his lungs. He tried shifting his body as he let out a curse from the pain that continued.

“ _Ow_ , fuck,” His voice came out strangled and raspy. His throat felt like sandpaper.

The pressure around his hand lessened and a gentle touch brushed his cheek. He gradually felt his whole body relax. Jason turned into the touch and forced his eyes open. His vision was incredibly blurry but he could make out a form by him and the strong light of a window behind them.

“Hey, Jaylad.” The voice was soft and sounded just the tiniest bit emotional.

Jason blinked slowly several times, trying to clear his eyes, though they didn’t want to be clear to the best they could. He squinted at the figure in front of him and the face slowly came in clarity.

“Dad?” Jason mumbled out, already feeling exhausted from just doing that and the pain still tingling. It wasn’t strong, but he could feel it in the background.

He nodded, smiling now. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m here Jay.”

“Where’s here?”

Bruce sighed. “You’re in the hospital, Jay. Do you remember what happened?”

Jason furrowed his brow which just closed his eyes. _Hospital?_ That can’t be good. Jason couldn’t remember anything that might explain why he’s there. But he had a vague feeling in his mind that Dick had been in danger. He opened his eyes again, fighting the urge to just keep them closed and go back to sleep.

“No,” he told him quietly. "But I feel like something happened to Dick. Is he okay?"

Bruce nodded. "He was with you, yeah. But he's okay, I promise. You don't remember anything else?" Jason shook his head so Bruce just smiled a little. “That’s okay. Just know that you’re okay. You’re going to be okay. Are you feeling any pain or anything? You said ow when you woke up.”

“Um, I think my ribs… or something in that area.”

“Okay. I’ll let the doctor know. Just go back to sleep.” Bruce hadn’t stopped gently rubbing his cheek with his thumb, holding his head in his hand, or let go of his hand. Jason didn’t reply and let his head fall further into Bruce’s touch, falling asleep in seconds.

* * *

Bruce smiled softly as Jason fell back asleep. He was glad Dick and Tim had left then, it may have been more overwhelming for Jason with more people hovering. Bruce brushed his thumb across Jason’s cheek one more time, then gently leaned his head back onto the pillows. He reached to Jason’s bedside monitors and pressed the call button to alert the nurse to come.

Nurse James appeared a minute later, looking slightly concerned in the doorway. “Is everything alright, Mr. Wayne?”

Bruce’s smile didn’t fall, feeling like crying from happiness. “He woke up.”

* * *

_Three Weeks Later_

“You know, I don’t think this is going to go well,” Duke stated, though just sounding amused, not against it.

Jason grinned back at him. “It’ll be fine, we’re strapped in. Come on, let’s do this. You only live four times!” All his siblings groaned at that. Jason was highly amused and loved teasing his siblings about the fact he died and came back three more times.

Bruce knew it’s just Jason’s way of coping with what happened and the fact that he died _three more times_. It wasn’t terribly healthy but, they’re working on it. Any one of those times could have been his last breath and Jason knew that. They were all so grateful that Black Mask had initially wanted him alive. That sounded screwed up in itself but, Jason wouldn’t be alive otherwise.

Bruce watched from the patio half in pain and half amused as his children prepared for their “wheelchair race” they’ve been planning for the past three weeks, to be the first thing they did when Jason came home. He was in a wheelchair for the next couple weeks as his ribs continued healing and his broken ankle was still in a cast.

Dr. Copperson prescribed Jason an inhaler until his lungs were truly strong again as they quickly learned he got out of breath very easily. Physically, everything else was good. Jason had agreed to medication and also therapy for his mental illnesses, understanding that after the recent events, it would help him. Bruce was immensely proud of Jason for confidently making that decision.

All of their siblings were extremely supportive of both Dick and Jason as they recovered from their experience. And Bruce thought that was the best medicine they could receive to heal, which Bruce knows Jason didn’t have the first time around and was probably the only reason Jason seemed so light hearted right now; he was surrounded by family, keeping him distracted from getting trapped in thought and pain, and who were there for him when he did.

Alfred walked up to him then with a tray of tea, hot chocolate and sandwiches – it was late autumn, the air was what one could call brisk if putting it lightly. How Alfred managed all that on one silver tray was beyond Bruce, always had been. Alfred sat beside him.

“Miss Kyle sends her apologies at missing Master Jason’s return home. The shelter got a whole litter of kittens this morning and desperately needed her assistance.”

Bruce nodded with a relaxed smile and listened to the kids who were all talking excitedly.

“Should I really be letting them go through with this?” Bruce asked his father.

Alfred chuckled, “My boy, I don’t think you’d be able to stop them if you tried.”

Bruce shook his head in amusement and turned back to his children. They were on the hilly side of the yard, a yard of perfectly yellowing grass as November had come, lining up their chairs near the patio. Stephanie was pushing Barbara’s chair, Tim was pushing Dick’s and Duke was pushing Jason’s. As Jason had said, the three on wheels were buckled to the chairs to prevent any mishaps.

Damian and Cass finished up their hunt through the grass; they were picking up anything the wheels might get caught on or flip over from, such as rocks. They originally planned to do this inside but after a look from Alfred they moved it to the backyard. There were far too many breakables in the house.

Damian ran to the other side of the yard where the oak tree marked the finish line. Cass went up to the start line, picked up the black and yellow flag and stood off to the side.

Bruce opened his phone to the video camera to capture what he really hoped was going to go well. If not, it will certainly be something they all look back on and laugh at.

Cass swished the flag down and off they went.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this "one shot"  
> I hope you liked it :)  
> If you want more Jason hurt/comfort because I love Jason and that's mostly what I write apparently, I've got a few more, short and long, fics on my page if you're interested :)
> 
> Thanks again for reading this and I hope you are all safe and healthy during this very odd and crazy week!


End file.
